lesserkey of solomon v

8/15/2019 Lesserkey of Solomon V

1/8

The Ars Nova

Book Vof the

Lemegeton


2/8

Ars Nova Book Five of the Lemegeton

Transcribed from Sloane MS. 2731 andprepared in Adobe Acrobat format by Benjamin Rowe, June, 1999.

Typeset in Adobe Caslon


3/8

Ars Nova

1

Introduction

There is some question whether the Ars Nova qualifies as a separate book of theLemegeton. In my copy of the manuscript (Sloane 2731) it consists of a single sheet

of paper. It is only distinguished from the preceding Ars Almadelby the word Finisat the end of that book; there is no new title for the text that follows.It is my belief that the lack of a title and an error at whatever time the pages

were numbered has caused previous publishers and commentators on theArs Novato put its two pages in the reverse of the sequence in which they should be shown.Using the opposite of the accepted order puts the presentation in a logical sequence,and clears up the mystery surrounding the Mighty Oration, which has puzzledprevious commentators.

Sloane 2731 is characterized by an almost obsessive concern with conservingspace. Each sheet of paper is used to the maximum. The writing is minuscule. Themargins are very narrow, and the copyist wrote in what we now call landscape ori-

entation in order to fit as many words as possible on each line. There are only twoplaces in the manuscript where as much as a half-page is left blank, and one of theseis in theArs Nova. If the accepted order of the pages is used, this blank comes in themiddle of the presentation, for no obvious reason. It seems more reasonable to con-clude that this blank comes at the end of the section, and thus at the end of theentire Lemegeton; it is blank because the work is finished at that point.

Most of the text ofArs Nova clearly relates to the first book of the Lemegeton,the Goetia, and the tools of the trade described therein: the magickal circle and tri-angle, the hexagrams within the circle and the pentagrams surrounding it. It lists thedivine names written in each of these, and adds a short prayer, with one line ofprayer per name. This list takes up the entire first page. I believe that the prayers

were to be spoken either while drawing the divine names and figures, or later whileconsecrating the place of the work.On the opposite side of the sheet, there are three sections. In the first, several

sets of Hebrew characters are shown with accompanying names in the Latin alpha-bet. The latter do not appear to be transliterations of the Hebrew which, in anycase, is only partly legible.

The second section is a prayer that incorporates some of the Latin-alphabetwords from the previous section. But it actually makes more sense with those wordsexcised: it is a prayer to god to confine evil and aerial spirits in a brass urn. Thisimmediately brings to mind the brass vessel of Solomon, shown in the Goetia. Possi-bly this is a prayer to be said while consecrating or preparing such a vessel. However,

the divine names in this prayer are not those shown on the vessel in my copy of themanuscript, nor those on the vessel in the Crowley/Mathers edition of the Goetia.Possibly this section is a borrowing from some document outside the Lemegeton tra-dition; the extreme corruption of the divine names would suggest it.

With the order of the pages reversed, the final section is the Mighty Oration.Nelson White puzzles over this invocation, wondering whether the magician is sup-


4/8

Lemegeton: Clavicula Salomonis

2

posed to address the Spirit as if it were a thief. The explanation is simple; it is notpart of the Lemegeton as such. Rather, this section is a curse directed against anyperson who steals the book in which it is written. Such curses were common in thetimes when books were reproduced by hand; the time and effort it took to copy them

made them much more valuable commodities than our modern mass-produced vol-umes. Its presence in this position is the final confirmation that the order of thepages has been reversed.

It should be noted than in the Introductory Description of the Lemegeton (pre-sented in the Goetia volume of this series) this book is sometimes erroneously titledArs Notoria. The Notoria is a separate (and much more complex) work, the text ofwhich was included (without its vitally important illustrations) as an appendix in onecopy of the Lemegeton.

Benjamin Rowe


5/8

Ars Nova

3

The First Page of the Ars Nova

Eheie. Kether. Almighty God, whose dwelling is in the highest Heavens: 1

Haioth. The great King of Heaven, and of all the powers therein:

Methratton. And of all the holy hosts of Angels and Archangels:Reschith. Hear the prayers of Thy servant who putteth his trust in Thee:Hagalgalim. Let thy Holy Angels be commanded to assist me at this time and

at all times. (Sphere of the Primum Mobile)

Iehovah. God Almighty, God Omnipotent, hear my prayer:Hadonat. Command Thy Holy Angels above the fixed stars:Ophanim. To be assisting and aiding Thy servant:Iophiel. That I may command all spirits of air, water, fire, earth, and hell:Masloth. So that it may tend unto Thy glory and unto the good of man.

S. Z. (i.e., Sphere of the Zodiac)

Iehovah. God Almighty, God Omnipotent, hear my prayer:Elohim. God with us, God be always present with us:Binah. Strengthen us and support us, both now and for ever:

Aralim. In these our undertakings, which we perform but as instrumentsin Thy hands:

Zabbathai In the hands of Thee, the great God of Sabaoth. S. H.2

Hesel3 Thou great God, governor and creator of the planets, and of the

Host of Heaven:Hasmalim Command them by Thine almighty power:Zelez To be now present and assisting to us Thy poor servants, both

now and for ever. K. S.

Elohim Geber Most Almighty and eternal and ever living Lord God:Seraphim Command ThySeraphim:Camael, Madim To attend on us now at this time, to assist us, and to defend us

from all perils and dangers. S.

1. The divine names in this section are all written in the periphery of the Circle of Art,shown in the Goetia.

2. It is uncertain what the H abbreviates. The names all refer to the Sphere of Saturn.3. The copyist mistook a d in the diagram of the circle for an l, here and in the name

Zelez, which should be Zedeq.


6/8


4

Eloha O Almighty God! be present with us both now and for ever:Tetragrammaton And let thine Almighty power and presence ever guard and pro-

tect us now and for ever:

Raphael Let thy holy angel Raphaelwait upon us at this present and forever:Schemes To assist us in these our undertakings. S.

Iehovah. God Almighty, God Omnipotent, hear my prayer:Sabaoth. Thou great God of Sabaoth:Netzah All-seeing God:Elohim. God be present with us, and let thy presence be now and alway

present with us:Haniel. Let thy holy angel Haniel come and minister unto us at this

present. S.

Elohim. O God! be present with us, and let thy presence be now andalway present with us:

Sabaoth. O thou great God of Sabaoth, be present with us at this time andfor ever:

Hodben Let Thine Almighty power defend us and protect us, both nowand for ever:

Michael. LetMichael, who is, under Thee, general of thy heavenly host:Cochab. Come and expel all evil and danger from us both now and for

ever. S.

Sadai. Thou great God of all wisdom and knowledge:Jesal1 Instruct Thy poor and most humble servant:Cherubim. Thy holy Cherubim:Gabriel. By Thy Holy Angel Gabriel, who is the Author and Messenger

of good tidings:Levanah. Direct and support us at this present and for ever. S.

1. The copyist again mistakes a d for an l.


7/8

Ars Nova

5

The Explanation of the Two Triangles in the Parchment.1

Alpha&Omega Thou, O great God, Who art the beginning and the end:Tetragrammaton Thou God of Almighty power, be ever present with us to guard

and protect us, and let Thy Holy Spirit and presence be now and

always with us:Tetragrammaton Thou God of Almighty power, be ever present with us to guard

and protect us, and let Thy Holy Spirit and presence be now andalways with us:

Soluzen. I command thee, thou Spirit, of whatsoever region thou art, tocome unto this circle:

Halliza And appear in human shape:Bellator And speak unto us audibly in our mother-tongue:Bellonoy (or Bellony) And show, and discover unto us all treasure that

thou knowest of, or that is in thy keeping, and deliver it unto usquietly:

HallyFra And answer all such questions as we may demand without anydefect now at this time.

An Explanation Of Solomons Triangle.Anephezeton. Thou great God of all the Heavenly Host:Tetragrammaton. Thou God of Almighty power, be ever present with us to guard

and protect us, and let Thy Holy Spirit and presence be now andalways with us:

Primeumaton. Thou Who art the First and Last, let all spirits be subject untous, and let the Spirit be bound in this triangle, that disturbs thisplace:

Michael. By Thy Holy AngelMichael, until I shall discharge him.

1. The first two lines in this section refer to the Hexagram; the name AGLA in the diagramis omitted. The remaining names come from the Pentragrams.


8/8


6

The Second Page of the Ars Nova

Jodgea Rosen Emolack Roson Subbartha

Roson Eloham Skimoy Abomoth Rosen Elemoth

Zadon Behoma Reson Gamaliall Mackhamasmack

Baseh Zadon Hinmore Molock EhaddonMolack Johiron & Michael

Jodgea, I humbly implore thee Rosen Emolack thou everlasting god RosonSubbartha thou omnipotent & everlasting Creator Roson Eloham thou god with usSkimoy Abomoth to bind & keep fast Rosen Elemoth Mackhamasmack by thydivine power those evil & airy spirits Baseh Zadon of the spirit of flyes & spirit ofthe air Hinnon & spirit of Hinnon Molock Ehaddon with all the spirits of hiddentreasure & the disturbers of mankind Molack with the spirits of Molack Johinnon inchains in thy brazen urn Michael with thy Arch Angel Michael.....

The Mighty OrationBy the most great & almighty power of Alpha &Omega, Jehovah &Emmanuel,

and by him that divided the Red Sea & by that great power that turned all the waters &rivers of Egypt into blood & turned all the dust into flies & chains & by that great power

that brought frogs all over the land of Egypt & entered into the Kings Palace & chambers& by that great power that terrible thunder & lightning & hail stones mixt with fire, &sent locusts which did destroy all growing things in the whole land of Egypt, & by thatgreat power that destroyed all the first born of the land of Egypt both of man & beast, & bythat great power that divided the hard rock & rivers of water issued out of the sand of thewilderness, and by that great power that led the children of Israel into the land of Canaan& by that great power that destroyed Sonachoribs great host & by that great & almightypower of him that walked on the sea as on dry land, & by that almighty power that raisedthe dead Lazarus out of his grave, & by that almighty power of the blessed & holy & glori-ous trinity that did cast the Devil & all disobedient Angels out of heaven into hell thatthou thief return immediately & restore the goods again which thou hast stolen away,

therefore in & by the names of the Almighty God before rehearsed I charge thee, thou thiefto restore the goods again immediately or else the wrath of God may fall upon thee & forcethee to come immediately. Amen.

lesserkey of solomon v

Documents